So one of the things that everybody supposedly experiences while moving abroad is culture shock. The worst stage (as told to us by our program coordinators)? Stage 2, where everyone starts to miss home and/or get irritated at Spain/people in Spain/food in Spain etc. For the past month (I can't believe it has already been a month) we have all "hit" stage 2. Eat McDonalds everyday? Stage 2. Listen to songs that remind you of home? Stage 2. Personally, I have started stage two-ing when I hear songs that remind me of my friends or just of home. So basically I don't listen to any song longer than a minute-- but actually that is pretty normal for me! Short attention span! BUT, I can maybe see where I would leave the honeymoon phase soon! Hopefully not though!!!!!!!! But here are some of the major things that happened this week:
1. This week we started our Complutense classes, the ones with Spanish students! For some reason I thought it would be okay? But then on the first day one of my professors stood in front of me and started making jokes to the class that I didn't understand.. so that was great. Luckily, there are a couple of other people from my program in my class! The other class was a disaster, too. I switched it already but then the class I switched into had a professor I couldn't understand. He is really nice and came up to us Americans after class and made sure we could understand him. Nope, but here's to hoping next Thursday is better!
2. FINALLY MOVED INTO MY PISO!!!! It is SO great. It is adorable, it it close to everything (hey, 12 minute bus ride to class), and a bunch of people live nearby! My roommates are all super nice and it seems like things are coming together! It only took me three attempts to figure out the washer and I haven't broken anything yet so I would say I'm doing well. Oh, and I overlook a convent. What?
3. Started my intercambio! I met with a Spanish girl last week to do a language exchange. We walked around a mall at a metro station then went to get something to eat!!! She was really nice and it is good to practice my Spanish! Side note: while I was waiting, some random guy came up to me and said, you're really attractive, can I talk to you? (in spanish).. good job for being forward, but it's just a little weird?
This weekend starts Carnaval, a huge festival around fat tuesday etc- like mardi gras. A bunch of people went south, to Cadiz, Spain, to celebrate it! I didn't....that's a lot of money to spend to party the entire weekend. But there are plenty of crazies walking around Madrid in costumes and celebrating anyway.
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Sunday, February 12, 2012
Getting Real.
So for the past few weeks that we've been here, we haven't really had many responsibilities. No complaints!! I really enjoyed just relaxing, hanging out with friends, exploring, and going out at night! Though there is so much more I need to do!! But, it has changed within the past week and is about to change even more! This program is different than those of a lot of people I know, being that we work off of a Spanish class schedule, with classes on Fridays. What? Classes on Friday abroad? How do you travel? Exactly. So we are going to have to work around that a little bit. Our second round of classes start this week. We are now adding two more classes to our course load. These are with all Spanish students and only a couple of Americans in each class, which will be great for immersion but is a little intimidating. This week I will also start meeting with my intercambio, who is another student- a native Spanish speaker- learning to speak English. The idea is that we meet for an hour or so and spend half of the time in each language. I'm super excited! Apparently this is a great way to make friends!
This past week I started teaching English. This is a job for one hour twice a week where I go to a Spanish home to act as a tutor to these kids. I tutor 3 kids-- they are all between 2.5 and 3 years old and are a little crazy. But great at the same time! It is a little difficult because of their attention spans and also because the mom only wants me to speak in English. I agree that the immersion is very important but it is just going to be tough at first because they are so young and don't speak any english, whereas it was possible to tutor a kid who has been working on English for a while. Anyway, this pays 18€ twice a week. Not too bad! I mostly sing songs with them, show them pictures and talk about them, and play with them too. The mom wants me to bring a CD on Tuesday, so I guess that is my mission for tomorrow.
This week I also tried a choir practice. I am not sure why I am doing it.. I thought that it might be cool to meet other Spaniards, but I don't know if I will. This week there were 5 girls from my program there and 8 Spaniards. I haven't sang in a choir- just taken voice lessons- since high school, and I forgot that the actual choir wasn't my favorite part of everything, but the people. So we'll see how it goes!
New Experiences of the Week:
1. La Misa (Mass): On Sunday I went with a few friends to la misa at Almudena Cathedral in Madrid. It is right across a courtyard from the royal palace and was one of my favorite things I've done so far. It was all in Spanish, por supuesto (of course) and was a little different than what I've been used to the last 20 years of my life. There was no singing, only an organ that would play once in a while and a cantor who sang a couple hymns. Also, during communion time, there was no order to people going to the altar. Instead, some people just kind of went when they felt like it, and others didn't go at all. We were pretty confused by this but ended up going right before they finished communion. The whole mass took a maximum of 40 minutes. Here is a picture of the outside of the cathedral:
2. Tapas! Okay, so I have been eating some tapas, but there are a few things worth mentioning. First of all, there is this chain in Spain (and in Miami, for some reason) called 100 Montaditos. Montaditos are little sandwich/tapa type things. This is important purely because on Wednesday, everything on their menu is a euro. Yes, even a pint. So it was PACKED on Wednesday, but we went and it was so good! New tradition! This Wednesday is moving day (aka, moving to my new piso!) and I am recruiting the help of one of my friends from home. This is how we are celebrating!!!!!!! I think it is a good idea. But what I mostly wanted to mention about tapas is that on Friday, I went on a Tapas tour with some people from my group. We walked around different neighborhoods of Spain trying some of the best tapas restaurants in the city and got sangria with each one! They were all really good, and I really enjoyed trying some new food! (Octopus and fried anchovies?)
3. Salamanca!!!!!!!!!!! We last minute decided to go on a trip to Salamanca, Spain this Saturday and Sunday. It is about a 3 hour bus ride or so and it is northwest of Madrid. Maybe it wasn't the best plan, considering it was cold, to go north, but we made it work! It wasn't actually cold, we are just waiting for that beautiful Spanish weather, which is rumored (by weather.com) to continue at the end of this week. We got to the city and found our hostel and went exploring. First we ate at a restaurant which only had locals and got the menú del día, which is a multi-course offering for about 10 euro. This meant we filled up on wine, bread, paella with chicken and shrimp, tortilla de jamón (spanish tortilla with ham-tortilla from eggs and potatoes), patatas fritas (french fries), and helado (ice cream). Done eating for the day.
In Salamanca we walked around a lot. We stopped at Plaza Mayor, the grandest plaza in Spain, allegedly. It is made of granite and it beautiful. There were so many people out socializing in the Plaza, even on a cold day like yesterday. We walked to the cathedrals also. There are two- the old and the new. The New Cathedral is free entry and we looked around inside. It was crazy beautiful. We had plans to go to mass this morning but that didn't end up happening. Then we walked around Universidad de Salamanca, the oldest university in Spain. We also stopped along the bridge leading into the city. My Rick Steves Spain guide (thanks mom and dad for the suggestion!) helped a lot!!
All in all, Salamanca was absolutely beautiful. A quaint town with stone streets and beautiful old buildings everywhere, full of history and all so architecturally interesting. It is so completely different from Madrid and other places that I've ever seen! That being said, I don't know how I could live there after living in Madrid. This week, I completely fell in love with it and pretty much decided I don't want to leave. We'll see how that goes.
This week is bittersweet- I have to leave my lovely señora but am moving into my new apartment finalmente! It will be so nice because so many people from my program will be living in the same area, and it will be SO FUN!!!!!!!! Wish me luck!
This past week I started teaching English. This is a job for one hour twice a week where I go to a Spanish home to act as a tutor to these kids. I tutor 3 kids-- they are all between 2.5 and 3 years old and are a little crazy. But great at the same time! It is a little difficult because of their attention spans and also because the mom only wants me to speak in English. I agree that the immersion is very important but it is just going to be tough at first because they are so young and don't speak any english, whereas it was possible to tutor a kid who has been working on English for a while. Anyway, this pays 18€ twice a week. Not too bad! I mostly sing songs with them, show them pictures and talk about them, and play with them too. The mom wants me to bring a CD on Tuesday, so I guess that is my mission for tomorrow.
This week I also tried a choir practice. I am not sure why I am doing it.. I thought that it might be cool to meet other Spaniards, but I don't know if I will. This week there were 5 girls from my program there and 8 Spaniards. I haven't sang in a choir- just taken voice lessons- since high school, and I forgot that the actual choir wasn't my favorite part of everything, but the people. So we'll see how it goes!
New Experiences of the Week:
1. La Misa (Mass): On Sunday I went with a few friends to la misa at Almudena Cathedral in Madrid. It is right across a courtyard from the royal palace and was one of my favorite things I've done so far. It was all in Spanish, por supuesto (of course) and was a little different than what I've been used to the last 20 years of my life. There was no singing, only an organ that would play once in a while and a cantor who sang a couple hymns. Also, during communion time, there was no order to people going to the altar. Instead, some people just kind of went when they felt like it, and others didn't go at all. We were pretty confused by this but ended up going right before they finished communion. The whole mass took a maximum of 40 minutes. Here is a picture of the outside of the cathedral:
2. Tapas! Okay, so I have been eating some tapas, but there are a few things worth mentioning. First of all, there is this chain in Spain (and in Miami, for some reason) called 100 Montaditos. Montaditos are little sandwich/tapa type things. This is important purely because on Wednesday, everything on their menu is a euro. Yes, even a pint. So it was PACKED on Wednesday, but we went and it was so good! New tradition! This Wednesday is moving day (aka, moving to my new piso!) and I am recruiting the help of one of my friends from home. This is how we are celebrating!!!!!!! I think it is a good idea. But what I mostly wanted to mention about tapas is that on Friday, I went on a Tapas tour with some people from my group. We walked around different neighborhoods of Spain trying some of the best tapas restaurants in the city and got sangria with each one! They were all really good, and I really enjoyed trying some new food! (Octopus and fried anchovies?)
3. Salamanca!!!!!!!!!!! We last minute decided to go on a trip to Salamanca, Spain this Saturday and Sunday. It is about a 3 hour bus ride or so and it is northwest of Madrid. Maybe it wasn't the best plan, considering it was cold, to go north, but we made it work! It wasn't actually cold, we are just waiting for that beautiful Spanish weather, which is rumored (by weather.com) to continue at the end of this week. We got to the city and found our hostel and went exploring. First we ate at a restaurant which only had locals and got the menú del día, which is a multi-course offering for about 10 euro. This meant we filled up on wine, bread, paella with chicken and shrimp, tortilla de jamón (spanish tortilla with ham-tortilla from eggs and potatoes), patatas fritas (french fries), and helado (ice cream). Done eating for the day.
In Salamanca we walked around a lot. We stopped at Plaza Mayor, the grandest plaza in Spain, allegedly. It is made of granite and it beautiful. There were so many people out socializing in the Plaza, even on a cold day like yesterday. We walked to the cathedrals also. There are two- the old and the new. The New Cathedral is free entry and we looked around inside. It was crazy beautiful. We had plans to go to mass this morning but that didn't end up happening. Then we walked around Universidad de Salamanca, the oldest university in Spain. We also stopped along the bridge leading into the city. My Rick Steves Spain guide (thanks mom and dad for the suggestion!) helped a lot!!
All in all, Salamanca was absolutely beautiful. A quaint town with stone streets and beautiful old buildings everywhere, full of history and all so architecturally interesting. It is so completely different from Madrid and other places that I've ever seen! That being said, I don't know how I could live there after living in Madrid. This week, I completely fell in love with it and pretty much decided I don't want to leave. We'll see how that goes.
This week is bittersweet- I have to leave my lovely señora but am moving into my new apartment finalmente! It will be so nice because so many people from my program will be living in the same area, and it will be SO FUN!!!!!!!! Wish me luck!
Sunday, February 5, 2012
Isn't Spain supposed to be warm?
So, the past few days all of us here have been disheartened by the Spanish weather. Spain is known for its sun and temperate weather even in the winter. Those days enjoyed in the nearly 60 degree weather a couple weeks ago? Gone. So, it's been kind of rough for a lot of us. I am personally realizing how bad I am at packing because 1, I have nothing warm to wear besides a northface jacket- my thin trenchcoat does not help, and 2, because María, my señora hadn't done my laundry for a while and I have 2 shirts left. Dryers aren't common here, and usually line-drying, which I am totally in support in thanks to my mother, works well in the sun, but of course it's not here... Yesterday I dried one with a hair dryer. Whoops. Also, it is INSANELY windy, which makes it difficult at night to go out! But it is all fine, I have clearly survived and don't mean to be so complain-y, because I know a lot of other European countries are having very terrible issues right now, I'm just surprised/not prepared.
I mentioned my señora, María. I'm not sure how much I have said about her yet, but she is seriously the best. I am so sad to leave her when I move into my piso in the next week or so! First of all, my situation is really different because she doesn't live with us. Instead she lives with her husband Cortés a few stops away on the metro. So this really sets us up for an independent living arrangement which we take full advantage of. We have people over, friends come over after going out and eat, and we can have friends sleep over (María has a surplus of beds..). It's really nice! Though it is kind of strange only seeing her for an hour or so each day. Earlier this week she stopped in at 11 am and I was completely confused. And this week, we met her marido, or husband. He is so great, obviously, just like María. He's a broker-- the first thing they told us was that in the spring, when it's nicer, we have to come over to the penthouse to have lunch on the terrace... uh, okay. No complaints. We kind of assumed María lived this lifestyle considering she usually comes in and said that she got nothing done- she just slept all day. Or when she noticed my roommates Prada glasses and raved about Prada for a while since when she is in London, she goes there every afternoon.. alright. Besides that, we have told María about a couple of our friends and she has met some too. Somehow, she decided that one is my boyfriend.. and then she gave me another. I'm not really sure what is going on, but I do know that I can't stop laughing during dinner with all of the different things that she brings up.
Classes started this week for Reunidas, the American portion of the program. So far, they are all alright. We will see how everything pans out though! Complu classes won't start for another week, so I'll be enjoying my last week of semi-break. Earlier this week, we got our assignments for teaching English!!!! This is something we can do to earn a little extra pocket money while we're here- we didn't need a work visa or anything, so we get under-the-table cash. This is PERFECT. I will be teaching two hours a week and working with 2 3-year-olds. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing, because as I quickly learned, Spanish kids are about 83 times cuter than American kids.. and I love American kids. So you can imagine my excitement over this! Since I can't create a lesson plan for then (they are way too young, clearly), I will just be playing with them and teaching them American songs. All for 32 € a week (I HAVE NEVER MADE THAT EURO SIGN BEFORE THAT WAS THE BEST!!!!!).
I know this is lengthy, but I feel like a lot happened this week. Here are quick updates about 3 more discoveries in Spain:
1. CHEAP BREAD- I know this is super weird, but when you just want to have some bread for lunch, warm and out of the oven, all you need to do is wander to the local Dia, a supermarket here, or my personal choice (a block from my new apartment), Mercado de Argüelles. Bread is 45 centimos, or cents, for a loaf. BEST THING EVER.
2. KAPITAL!!!- We finally decided to go to Kapital, a major discoteca in Madrid with 7 levels, on Friday night. This can't be a habit, considering in cost 18€ (euro sign again, this is awesome) to get in the door with one drink (I forgot my coupon.. ugh, which would have given me 2 for 15€). Of course, like my dad told me, there are some things that I have to do for the experience, and this was one of them! It was completely worth it and I had a great time!! People came over here first for wine (perfect because we knew the drinks would be super expensive) and then we headed to Kapital. We ran into so many other people from our program, and one girl had a friend who had bottle service in one section of Kapital. It was pretty ridiculous. We stayed out until the metro opened again and I kept my heels on the whole time!!!!!!! Just had to point that out considering heels and me don't mix. Though I was struggling to stand on them (purely because I hate heels) by the end of the night. I think I might have broken a toe. haha. But from now on, I am going to go on Thursday nights when it is free for girls and just suck it up through my 8:30 am class on Friday. I end early, anyway. (I realize this method probably isn't sanctioned...but this is Spain.)
3. Last night, I went to a concert- Don Omar- with a bunch of people from my program. Now, this isn't my typical concert that I attend (I miss Interpol), but I knew it would be a fun experience purely because it was in Madrid. I only knew two songs..haha. It was SO much fun! Besides that 1, I had to pee, and no matter how much my friends tried to convince me, I was NOT going to squat behind a pillar at the top of the stadium. And 2, I was under the impression that the concert hall would be really hot because everyone was dancing, and also under the impression that since the doors opened at 8:30 pm and we got there at 9:40 for a 9:30 show, we would get in right away. Nope. Cool. Remember that bitter cold and wind I talked about earlier? Still a problem. We waited in line for an hour outside, and I was just wearing my 3/4 length blazer. haha...and it was still cold in the concert hall. But that's okay!!!!! It was a great experience and I'm warm now, obviously. haha
Sorry for the lengthy post, I have to crank out some contemporary lit homework before going out for the super bowl tonight!
I mentioned my señora, María. I'm not sure how much I have said about her yet, but she is seriously the best. I am so sad to leave her when I move into my piso in the next week or so! First of all, my situation is really different because she doesn't live with us. Instead she lives with her husband Cortés a few stops away on the metro. So this really sets us up for an independent living arrangement which we take full advantage of. We have people over, friends come over after going out and eat, and we can have friends sleep over (María has a surplus of beds..). It's really nice! Though it is kind of strange only seeing her for an hour or so each day. Earlier this week she stopped in at 11 am and I was completely confused. And this week, we met her marido, or husband. He is so great, obviously, just like María. He's a broker-- the first thing they told us was that in the spring, when it's nicer, we have to come over to the penthouse to have lunch on the terrace... uh, okay. No complaints. We kind of assumed María lived this lifestyle considering she usually comes in and said that she got nothing done- she just slept all day. Or when she noticed my roommates Prada glasses and raved about Prada for a while since when she is in London, she goes there every afternoon.. alright. Besides that, we have told María about a couple of our friends and she has met some too. Somehow, she decided that one is my boyfriend.. and then she gave me another. I'm not really sure what is going on, but I do know that I can't stop laughing during dinner with all of the different things that she brings up.
Classes started this week for Reunidas, the American portion of the program. So far, they are all alright. We will see how everything pans out though! Complu classes won't start for another week, so I'll be enjoying my last week of semi-break. Earlier this week, we got our assignments for teaching English!!!! This is something we can do to earn a little extra pocket money while we're here- we didn't need a work visa or anything, so we get under-the-table cash. This is PERFECT. I will be teaching two hours a week and working with 2 3-year-olds. I'm pretty excited about the whole thing, because as I quickly learned, Spanish kids are about 83 times cuter than American kids.. and I love American kids. So you can imagine my excitement over this! Since I can't create a lesson plan for then (they are way too young, clearly), I will just be playing with them and teaching them American songs. All for 32 € a week (I HAVE NEVER MADE THAT EURO SIGN BEFORE THAT WAS THE BEST!!!!!).
I know this is lengthy, but I feel like a lot happened this week. Here are quick updates about 3 more discoveries in Spain:
1. CHEAP BREAD- I know this is super weird, but when you just want to have some bread for lunch, warm and out of the oven, all you need to do is wander to the local Dia, a supermarket here, or my personal choice (a block from my new apartment), Mercado de Argüelles. Bread is 45 centimos, or cents, for a loaf. BEST THING EVER.
2. KAPITAL!!!- We finally decided to go to Kapital, a major discoteca in Madrid with 7 levels, on Friday night. This can't be a habit, considering in cost 18€ (euro sign again, this is awesome) to get in the door with one drink (I forgot my coupon.. ugh, which would have given me 2 for 15€). Of course, like my dad told me, there are some things that I have to do for the experience, and this was one of them! It was completely worth it and I had a great time!! People came over here first for wine (perfect because we knew the drinks would be super expensive) and then we headed to Kapital. We ran into so many other people from our program, and one girl had a friend who had bottle service in one section of Kapital. It was pretty ridiculous. We stayed out until the metro opened again and I kept my heels on the whole time!!!!!!! Just had to point that out considering heels and me don't mix. Though I was struggling to stand on them (purely because I hate heels) by the end of the night. I think I might have broken a toe. haha. But from now on, I am going to go on Thursday nights when it is free for girls and just suck it up through my 8:30 am class on Friday. I end early, anyway. (I realize this method probably isn't sanctioned...but this is Spain.)
3. Last night, I went to a concert- Don Omar- with a bunch of people from my program. Now, this isn't my typical concert that I attend (I miss Interpol), but I knew it would be a fun experience purely because it was in Madrid. I only knew two songs..haha. It was SO much fun! Besides that 1, I had to pee, and no matter how much my friends tried to convince me, I was NOT going to squat behind a pillar at the top of the stadium. And 2, I was under the impression that the concert hall would be really hot because everyone was dancing, and also under the impression that since the doors opened at 8:30 pm and we got there at 9:40 for a 9:30 show, we would get in right away. Nope. Cool. Remember that bitter cold and wind I talked about earlier? Still a problem. We waited in line for an hour outside, and I was just wearing my 3/4 length blazer. haha...and it was still cold in the concert hall. But that's okay!!!!! It was a great experience and I'm warm now, obviously. haha
Sorry for the lengthy post, I have to crank out some contemporary lit homework before going out for the super bowl tonight!
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